The invention relates to head restraints for vehicles of any kind. They are usually arranged so that they can be easily extended from the back rest of vehicle seats and adjusted with regard to their height. The head restraints are comprised ofxe2x80x94for examplexe2x80x94tubular supports with an upholstery portion in the area that is provided for resting the head of the passenger. This area can be comprised of two half shells made of plastic material onto which an upholstery cover is applied (DE 34 17872 A1).
The invention has the object to develop such a head restraint such that it not only provides the conventional protection of the head andxe2x80x94indirectlyxe2x80x94of the spine but additionally can generate electrical energy within and outside of the vehicle.
Based on the aforementioned known head restraint, the invention for solving this object limits the head contact onto the central area of the head restraint which can be, for example, formed by a net (DE 197 33 030 C1) which upon a rear end collision is torn by an airbag which then takes over the protective function. The size of the normal head restraint, in general, serves only for ensuring that the passenger is comfortable in different seat positions, optionally also when resting, so that the head restraint area outside of the central area is used only infrequently. However, in order to ensure at the same time the stability of the entire head restraint, each head restraint half shell according to the invention has in its interior a reinforcing plastic frame which is configured such that outside of the supporting central area of the head restraint half shell, positioned forwardly in the travel direction, it contains collectors for receiving and collecting light as well as for light propagation to solar modules for light conversion into electrical energy which is stored in storage elements of a known type, in particular, embodied according to thin-film element technology. The head restraint half shell, rearwardly positioned in the travel direction, is in principle of the same configuration and contains in addition a frame for a removable component to be used for different purposes. Further advantageous details of the head restraint configuration according to the invention are defined in the dependent claims.